The Loop

3:33 AM

Where's @Brady when you need him? wordpress.stackexchange.com/users/22493/lily-peng

Spamathon 3-3.me/MtvH

5:48 AM

@BrianFegter This lily peng has been repeat offending for a number of days.. hasn't their account been deleted several times?

Stack Exchange

7:25 AM

SE network updates: Reopen Votes review queue has been introduced to vote whether or not to reopen closed questions.

posted on October 17, 2012

Reopen Votes review queue has been introduced to vote whether or not to reopen closed questions.

Brady

8:27 AM

@BrianFegter why would I be here at 4:33AM?

Damien

9:00 AM

morning all

toscho

@Brady please do not delete these spam accounts anymore. To get an IP ban we have to preserve the user’s history.

Brady

@toscho OK... but these spam accounts just change their IP's most of them are on dynamic generated ones, so blocking the IP you are potentially blocking someone legit

userabuser

true ^

toscho

@Brady This user is using the same IP address all the time.

And no one else has ever used that IP.

userabuser

can you traceroute and see if its an ISP level address? you can normally tell

Brady

9:05 AM

Still doesnt change the fact that once a user is banned they change their IP and that banned IP then will be given to an inocent user

but anyway I wont destroy spam accounts anymore

I will leave you or another moderator to deal with IP blocking

toscho

@userabuser The best I can get is what my tool and a trace are telling me.

@Brady Post links to these accounts to the mod room.

userabuser

I've been removing the links in their posts as soon as I see them... everyone should do the same. Site gets crawled quickly and they know that... which is why they spam in first place.

BL from good PR/TR site + if you want to get your site indexed quickly thats a smart move in addition to directly submitting your sitemap, if an authority link gives you a BL straight up, the initial algo may place you higher in the SERPs before readjustments or manual review.. depends. Anyway, best to hit them where it hurts..

in the bURLs

Damien

@Brady can you not block on registered email address & username combo .. i believe thats the most common method for social networks. As you say, IP block doesnt work as most people don't have a static IP and block Username doesn't work either.

@userabuser just translating here .. BL = backlinks from a good PR page rank ... but what is TR?

userabuser

@Damien Trust Rank

toscho

@Damien we cannot block users, just delete and destroy.

userabuser

9:21 AM

PR ain't everything, even though its a highly praised metric, TR is a different game altogether. They go hand in hand - sure, but a high PR doesn't always guarantee it will influence "trust".

toscho

we can also suspend a user, but then he will create just another account

Damien

@toscho if you do it based on registered email address then at least it means the user has to go back to gmail and start again

userabuser

@toscho True, but let them. How many accounts do you think they will create before they give up?

@Damien Very true, and much better approach.

Damien

the other common way is to authenticate the user - by sending them an SMS with a 1 time code

if they dont enter the code, they can't 'do' anything

toscho

@Damien email addresses are not validated. you can create a temporary account with any fake address.

userabuser

9:23 AM

that'd be ideal, but does stack want to fork out the cash for that I wonder?

Damien

hmm don't Stack send out a registration email with a validation link already?

toscho

@Damien yes, but you don't have to click that to be able post.

Damien

so then it just makes sense to change that bit of logic

toscho

the easy access is what made Stack Exchange so successful

userabuser

I think a good approach would be to place first time questions into a queue for moderation. So, the user can ask a question, and they would see it on site, however no one else will except for either moderators or people with specific rep who need to approve it before its live.

Damien

9:28 AM

I believe under silly treason / antidiscrimination / harrasment laws in most countries SE would have to track IP and email in case I complained about someone threatening me or worse

@userabuser validation on email address is still best ... at least SE could then block that email across the network

TTFN must work

userabuser

or validation required for your post to go live... so you can still register and ask your question with ease...

Brian Fegter

11:31 AM

@Brady Because you're everywhere at all times.

Ajay Patel

12:12 PM

0

Q: How to use search_columns in WP_User_Query?

I am using WP_User_Query to search use by name, ID, email etc... In that case I need to use search_columns field to pass ID or email of user. What i am doing is $my_users = new WP_User_Query( array( 'role' => $role, 'offse...